Who Will Pay Big Nfl Tab? You Will

CABLE

Whether you love the thrill of a Hail Mary pass in a pro football game, or hate how all those big men grab each other on the field, you're paying for the game if you're a cable subscriber.

And that price will soon go up.

When the National Football League on Tuesday awarded ESPN a $600 million-a-year contract for the Sunday night cable package, it sealed price hikes for cable subscribers, perhaps as early as next quarter. The price of ESPN's eight-year deal is 135 percent higher than the previous NFL deal cut jointly by TNT and ESPN.

``The bottom line is you are going to pay for it and I am going to pay for it,'' Michel Champagne, Comcast Cable's South Florida general manager, said. ``You'll pay in higher cable rates or higher prices for products to pay for the advertising.''

Across the board, the cost of sports programming is soaring, in part because there are so many more networks fighting for premier offerings, such as the NFL. TNT, for example, signed a $890 million deal in November with the NBA for four seasons.

That's why cable channels that carry sports programming _ whether it is TNT, ESPN, SportsChannel or the Sunshine Network _ are among the most expensive for cable operators.

The fees cable companies pay for sports channels have been climbing 15 percent to 20 percent a year, higher than any other type of channel, said Champagne. And those increases came before this week's NFL mega-deals.

Compare that with the 1.7 percent inflation rate in 1997 and with the prices of non-sports programs, which typically raise rates 5 percent to 15 percent, Champagne said.

Yet, a sports channel such as ESPN is a ``must carry'' for cable operators. To pay for that, cable companies turn to subscribers because, unlike in the broadcast world, advertising doesn't pay the freight.

According to Paul Kagan Associates, a Carmel, Calif.-based media appraisal group, the typical cable TV regional sports network gets less than 30 percent of its total revenue from advertising. Even well-established, mature national cable sports networks get only 40 percent to 50 percent of revenues from advertising.

So fees from cable companies _ that means cable subscribers _ must pick up the rest.

Cable operators are contractually obligated to carry ESPN in their expanded basic package. They can't separate ESPN and other sports channels into a separate package for sports fans.

So companies pass that price hike on to all subscribers who buy expanded basic or more. They don't, and can't, differentiate between the subscriber who buys cable for Nickelodeon and American Movie Classics and the subscriber who buys it for ESPN and SportsChannel.

Cable networks, of course, aren't the only ones paying steep prices for sports programming. ABC, which along with ESPN is owned by Disney, this week agreed to pay $550 million a year to carry Monday Night Football. CBS will spend $4 billion over the next eight seasons to broadcast American Football Conference games, while Fox will spend $4.4 billion to broadcast National Football Conference games.

``NFL broadcast rights are the premier franchise in television,'' said Allen Shaklan, station manager for WFOR-Ch. 4, the local CBS affiliate that will carry Dolphins games next season. ``There's a huge loyal audience for professional football that is hard to reach otherwise.''

During Dolphins games, WFOR will be able to promote its local news and programs such as Brooklyn South, a show that hasn't caught on yet with viewers. And CBS and WFOR can attract the key advertising _ car and beer spots.

Barry Allentuck, vice president of sales for WTVJ-Ch. 6, an NBC affiliate, says he hates to lose the Dolphins games. ``We'll suffer a loss, but it's not the kind of loss that will put us down and out,'' he said.

He hopes to make that up with other expensive sports events _ the NBA and the Olympics.